Could Brexit Affect Online Casinos in the UK

The uncertainty surrounding Brexit is only increasing as we get closer to 29th March and as we still don’t know whether we’ll crash out without a deal or not, it’s causing concern to many industries in the UK. The gambling industry is no exception to that!

“No Deal”

A No-Deal Brexit, which many quarters are threatening would mean that the World Trade Organisation rules would come into play and that could exclude many of the UK casino sites from Europe as new deals and trade agreements are thrashed out.

There are several scenarios, which could work either for or against online casinos and the UK gambling industry in general. What will be for sure is that a no-deal Brexit would lead to changes in legislation and tax rules and that would almost certainly have some kind of impact on the UK casino and gambling industry.

Regulation

The UK gambling industry is regulated by the UK Gambling Commission and while many gambling brands hold operations offshore, they are regulated within the UK and have been since 2014. This hierarchy was introduced to protect players from unscrupulous operators and the Commission advises players do not use casinos that do not have the appropriate licenses.

The current licences do not just apply to casinos with their servers in the UK, it also applies to offshore casinos too and that could have an effect on Gibraltar, which is part of the UK and is where many online casinos hold their licence.

The effect on Gibraltar licenses will depend on how Spain reacts to Brexit and whether they make it more difficult to cross the border into Gibraltar, but this could have a huge impact on the economy of Gibraltar.